Great balls of fire! The Hubble Space Telescope has detected superhot blobs of gas, each twice as massive as the planet Mars, being ejected near a dying star. The plasma balls are zooming so fast through space that they would travel from Earth to the moon in 30 minutes. This stellar "cannon fire" has continued once every 8.5 years for at least the past 400 years, astronomers estimate. The fireballs present a puzzle to astronomers because the ejected material could not have been shot out by the host star, called V Hydrae. The star is a bloated red giant, residing 1,200 light-years away, which has probably shed at least half of its mass into space during its death throes.
Bright nebulae and star clusters along this 5 degree wide field of view are popular stops on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. Cataloged by 18th century French astronomer Charles Messier, M20, the colorful Trifid Nebula, and M8, the expansive Lagoon Nebula, are at upper left and center. Both are well-known star forming regions about 5,000 light-years distant. Just passing through the same field of view on September 29, the yellowish star lined up with M8 and M20 at the lower right is actually Mars, close to 8.8 light-minutes from Earth on that date. That distance is nearly equivalent to 1 astronomical unit or the distance from Earth to Sun. Mars is overexposed in the image, with visible diffraction spikes created by the telescope mirror supports. Of course, Mars has long been known to wander through planet Earth's night skies. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Under the theme ‘ripples of curiosity’, TEDxCERN will explore curiosity and the innovations it sparks. (Image: Maximillien Brice/ CERN)
This year TEDxCERN will explore how ideas that started as mere ripples in science, technology and education are converging and creating waves of change.
On Saturday 5 November 2016 CERN will host the fourth edition of TEDxCERN, an annual conference which features bold talks by trailblazers in science, technology and the humanities.
Under the theme ‘ripples of curiosity’, TEDxCERN will explore curiosity and the innovations it sparks. Topics include artificial intelligence, DNA editing, biotechnology, global literacy, DIY science, drones, oceanography, as well as dark matter and gravitational waves.
TEDxCERN invites you to follow the event at one of the webcast partner locations all around the world, or tune in live on the TEDxCERN website. To host your own webcast event please contact webcast-tedxcern@cern.ch.
“One of CERN’s missions is to connect with people across the globe to inspire scientific curiosity and understanding,” said Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN’s Director for International Relations. “Behind every breakthrough, there is a brave idea from a curious person. With this year’s TEDx, we celebrate innovators from all fields who inspire us with their stories of how curiosity creates ripples that can change our world.”
The TEDxCERN event will be hosted at CERN on 5 November 2016, from 14:00 to 18:30 CET. A very limited number of places at the event are available to the CERN community and general public. Please apply to a ticket through the TEDxCERN website, no later than midnight on 16 October 2016. Tickets will be selected randomly.
There will also be a panel discussion the evening before, exploring the idea: ‘The fully automated human: How is technology augmenting our identities?’ The discussion will feature three of the TEDxCERN speakers and will take place on Friday 4 November from 17:30 to 19:00 CET, at the Globe of Science and Innovation. To attend, please sign-up here.
